The present invention relates generally to feedthrough electrical connectors and, more particularly to prefabricated wall or space dividing structures which include such connectors and are prewired to provide electrical service to the areas bounded by the structures.
Wall structures formed from a plurality of prefabricated panels have been used extensively in recent years and are gaining in popularity, particularly for use in offices where it is desirable to divide a large common area into numerous individual working stations. These wall structures are gaining wide acceptance because they are relatively inexpensive, are easily installed and may be easily rearranged to provide different work station configurations.
One problem associated with certain prefabricated wall structures in use today is the difficulty in supplying electrical service to the various working areas. If the electrical service is not incorporated in the panels and wall structure itself, a great deal of time and expense can be incurred in wiring the various working stations either during or after assembly of the structures. This, of course, diminishes greatly their value and advantage. To meet this problem a variety of prewired wall structures have been developed in which the electrical power lines and other necessary electrical services are carried through the individual prefabricated panels and are electrically coupled by connectors of one kind or another at the adjoining lateral edges of the panels. An example of one such prior art prewired wall system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,294. While these prewired systems exhibit greater utility and are more efficacious than earlier wall structures requiring separate wiring, they nonetheless suffer from the disadvantage of being structurally complex, thereby increasing greatly their cost of manufacture. In addition, conventional feed-through connectors used to electrically couple adjacent panels in these structures limit the variety of physical arrangements in which the panels may be assembled. For example, typically only two or possibly three panels can be assembled to an individual support member and the angular orientation between the panels is limited to some predetermined range by the type of feed-through connector employed. Moreover, the prior art feed-through connectors are typically mated with the adjoining prewired panels independently of the mechanical engagement between the panel and the associated support members. This arrangement requires that in addition to the mechanical assembly of the wall structure, it is necessary to electrically couple the feed-through connectors with their respective panels. Thus, more time is required to assemble and disassemble the wall structure and, more importantly, it is possible to inadvertently unmate the connectors from the wall panels.